The American Iron
and Steel Institute is reporting that steel import permit applications for
March totaled 3,480,000 net tons (NT), a 41.6-percent increase over February
and a 47.3-increase over the February preliminary imports total.

Import permit
tonnage for finished steel in March was 2,540,000, up 32.1 percent over
February.

For the first three
months of 2018, total and finished steel imports were 8,725,000 NT and
6,797,000 NT, down 2.6 percent and 2.2 percent respectively from the
year-ago period.

The estimated
finished steel import market share in March was 26 percent and is 25 percent
in the year-to-date.

Through the first
three months of 2018, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea
(978,000 NT, up 10 percent over the year-ago); Japan (382,000 NT, no
change); and Turkey (381,000 NT, down 52 percent).